Thursday, July 28, 2011

European Respiratory Society 2011 Annual Congress in Amsterdam will be the largest and the greatest Respiratory event of this year! Program of the Congress is very variable: there are Educational and Scientific parts, also will be organized special exams HERMES: European examinations in Adult respiratory medicine and in Paediatric respiratory medicine.

Recognized around the world as the authority in clinical chest medicine, CHEST 2011 will feature a learning program in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Essential updates on patient care and practice management strategies will keep you at the forefront of chest medicine, while additional learning opportunities, available in the Clinical Resource Center and throughout the meeting, will complement your knowledge and skills to provide a fully integrated education experience.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

With members in over 100 countries, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) aims to alleviate suffering from respiratory disease and to promote lung health through research, knowledge sharing, medical and public education.

As the global leader in providing education in cardiopulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine, the ACCP will promote diversity to optimize health, advance patient care, and support research while fostering health equity.

The roots of the American Thoracic Society reach back to 1905, when a small group of physicians decided that the best way to improve care for tuberculosis patients was to share their experiences and discoveries. Today, the ATS has grown into an international society with more than 15,000 members.

Friday, July 22, 2011

COPD audit team announced that the 13 participating countries have completed 16.024 clinical and 420 hospital data. In total 19.446 clinical cases have been collected but 3.420 cases had to be withdrawn for different reasons like misdiagnose or incompleteness.

The Data Analysis team of this COPD Audit has started the database cleaning process which will be followed by the descriptive analysis. COPD audit team aim to present the first preliminary results at the annual congress of the European Respiratory Society, Amsterdam 25 - 28 September.

Initial analysis of the COPD Audit results already demonstrates considerable differences in the organization and delivery of care between European hospitals and countries. Outcomes for patients suggest there remains much to be done to reach the evidence based standards advised in guidelines.

Who is that woman? You might have thought looking at the COPD Audit website or other promotional materials. The 'face of the COPD Audit' is Beatrice Hirsch, originally from South Africa, now living in Toronto (Canada). She witnessed, first hand, the rise of Nelson Mandela.

Beatrice has been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis for about 30 years. She was a smoker. At that time she didn't think something was wrong with her lungs. Smoking was a thing to do among people who were part of the "in" crowd; everybody smoked back then. Beatrice was extremely overweight and therefore she assumed her lack of breath was because of her weight. Now she knows better.

At present Beatrice is a volunteer in a hospital and meets with people who have recently been diagnosed with COPD. She tries to show them that life goes on, that it is possible to live quite well with COPD. Still there is one thing she misses the most, and that is dancing. She loved to dance.

Preliminary results of the COPD Audit will be launched following sessions during the ERS Annual Congress (24-28 September 2011 - Amsterdam):

For more information and pre-ordering the official COPD Audit report, please visit the ERS stand A.01

International team of ERS COPD Audit is doing great job for improvement of care of all COPD patients. ERS COPD Audit will help to respiratory specialists to make their work more efficient and help to breathe easier COPD patients! As a result of this huge multinational study will be elaboration and updating of COPD Guidelines!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

This year, the tobacco epidemic will kill nearly six million people. More than five million of them will be users and ex-users of smoked and smokeless tobacco and more than 600 000 will be nonsmokers who were exposed to tobacco smoke. By 2030, tobacco could kill eight million people a year. Tobacco use is one of the biggest contributors to the noncommunicable diseases epidemic, which includes heart disease, stroke, cancers and emphysema and accounts for 63% of deaths.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), offered his vision for the future of global tobacco control efforts.

GLOBAL TOBACCO CONTROL CAN AND SHOULD BE THE LEAD ENGINE IN THE RESOLUTION OF NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CRISIS!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

RARE follows one extraordinary mother in a race against time to cure her daughter's genetic disease. When Donna Appell learned that her infant daughter Ashley had an extremely rare genetic disease that would kill her in thirty years, she set out to track down every person in the world with Hermansky Pudlak Syndrome. Now, twenty years later, RARE follows Donna and her advocacy group of hundreds of patients in a race against time to fill a clinical trial that could save her daughter's life. A new documentary was created by Stanford filmakers Maren Grainger-Monsen MD, director of theProgram of Bioethics and Film and Nicole Newnham.

click on picture and watch RARE trailer

Today at 6 p.m. will take place free screening of the film RARE in the Clark Center Auditorium, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is a rare group of autosomal recessive diseases whose manifestations include oculocutaneousalbinism, bleeding, and lysosomal ceroid storage. Its etiology has been related to defects in 7 genes:HPS1, HPS2(AP3B1), HPS3, HPS4, HPS5, HPS6,andHPS7. Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome was first noted in 1959 by Hermansky and Pudlak, who described 2 unrelated persons with albinism with lifelong bleeding tendencies and peculiar pigmented reticular cells in the bone marrow as well as in biopsy samples of the lymph node and the liver. Pulmonary fibrosis,inflammatory bowel disease, and kidney disease are all symptoms linked to ceroid accumulation in the cells of these organs.

For gathering and dissemination of information about Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, for promotion of awareness and research, and for support for all patients with Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome was created in USA The Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome Network Inc.

The Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome Network Inc. is a not for profit support group for people and families dealing with Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome (HPS) and related disorders such as Chediak Higashi Syndrome. The HPS Network was founded in 1992 and incorporated in 1995.

Monday, July 11, 2011

We are continuing to tell you about the most interesting Respiratory Scientific events in the world.

This June European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology organized the 30th International Congress in Turkey.

European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is an association of clinicians, researchers and allied health professionals, dedicated to improving the health of people affected by allergic diseases.

With over 6,100 individual members and 41 European National Societies, EAACI is the primary source of expertise in Europe for all aspects of allergy and asthma.

We want to share with you Opening Ceremony from this important Respiratory event, with speech by President of EAACI Professor Jan Lotvall (Sweden):

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a growing cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and accurate estimates of the prevalence of this disease are needed to anticipate the future burden of COPD, target key risk factors, and plan for providing COPD-related health services.

The BOLD (Burden of Lung Disease) initiative is collecting country-specific data on the prevalence, risk factors and social and economic burden of COPD. It uses strictly standardized, tested methods like spirometry and test with bronchodilatator. BOLD will provide governments and the voluntary and private sectors with country-specific evidence on which to develop policy for both disease prevention and the provision of adequate and appropriate care for those suffering from COPD.

COPD prevalence is generally underestimated all over the world because prevalence estimates have mostly relied on self-reported doctor-diagnosis, a notoriously unreliable source of information for COPD. There is an urgent need for reliable prevalence data obtained from population-based surveys using carefully standardized methods. Also very important to evaluate COPD risk factors and investigate variation across countries by age, sex, and smoking status.

Professor Peter Burney from the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College of London is a Principal Investigator of the BOLD study. BOLD is multinational study of prevalence of COPD, BOLD was organized and completed in many countries: UK, USA, India, Turkey, Estonia, Germany, also many countries now in progress with BOLD study: Albania, Algeria, Gabon, Nigeria, etc.

We are proud that Moldova was accepted as a new site for BOLD study. Our team participated at BOLD training at Imperial College of London this June with teams from Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Malawi. We are sure that after one year of BOLD study we will obtain important data about prevalence of COPD in Moldova and also impact of risk factors on development of COPD and it economic burden. We are very exited to get the first data about the prevalence of COPD in Moldova!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Today I am happy to present guest post from Heather Von St. James. Heather is a 5-year survivor of malignant mesothelioma. Heather will offer inspiration to cancer patients in efforts to broaden a sense of optimism, awareness, and support!

Thank you Heather from all!

The lungs are often a surprisingly overlooked part of the body. The heart, brain and digestive system seem to get more publicity, but the lungs, which take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, are equally crucial to life. Some of the things that impact the lungs are not in our control, like exposure to pollutants and allergens, including asbestos. However there are some things people can do to contribute to lung health.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. In the lungs mesothelioma might begin in the pleura, or the tissue that lines and protects the outside of the lungs and the inside of the chest. The tissue is also called mesothelium, which gives its name to this form of cancer. The early symptoms of mesothelioma are like the symptoms of other lung diseases: people experience pain in the chest, find it hard to breathe, lose appetite and weight, and might cough up sputum streaked with blood. A biopsy will be performed to make sure the problem is mesothelioma. Treatment can include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and forms of immunotherapy. Each year 3,000 new cases are diagnosed, but mesothelioma prognosis isn't good: 5 to 10% of mesothelioma patients are alive five years after their diagnosis.

Other Lung Diseases

Asthma manifests as periodic attacks of wheezing and breathlessness. This is caused when the bronchi and bronchioles, or the lung’s airways, spasm and swell and mucus becomes thick enough to close off air to the lungs. Allergens and irritants like pollen, dust, animal hair, molds, foods, and smoke often cause asthma. Aspirin and other drugs can cause some asthma attacks. Asthma can also be brought on by exercise and stress, so it’s best to avoid these triggers.

Pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, viruses or in the case of pneumocystis carinii, a one-celled organism. The common symptoms of all types include shortness of breath, chest pain, cough which may or may not bring up blood, fatigue and fever. Bronchiectasis is when the airways of the lungs become blocked and accumulate mucus, bronchiolitis is an inflammation of the smallest airways in the lungs and mostly affects young children, and bronchitis, both acute and chromic, are an inflammation of the lung’s bronchial tubes in general.

Prevention

The best thing one can do for the health of one’s lungs is to not smoke, and avoid polluted areas, allergens and other irritants if at all possible. Other things that promote the health of the lungs are antioxidants like vitamins A, C, E, beta-carotenes and extracts from flavonoids like grape seed, pine bark, green tea and ginkgo biloba.

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